Extira

I have fallen in love with Extira !
You can get it up to 1 1/4 " thick. It machines like HDU (slower feeds) It accepts paint finshes much better than HDU !
The big seller for customers is that it has a really good "green" attribute. It isn't made from the wood of old growth forest . It isn made from farmed wood combined with recycled wood.
It is rot proof,termite proof, and much stiffer than HDU.
I made several 8ftx4ft HDU signs . I had to use 2 sheets of 11/2" HDU and put a sheet of PVC between them to add some rigidity. That made the substrate overhead over $700.00.
The last 8ft x4ft I made was with 1 1/4" Extira.
The sign was double sided . But the Extira is much more rigid and heavy. So it was even stiffer than the 3" of HDU and PVC !
I used 1 sheet of Extira and half the time to paint it, because it doesn't take 2 days oof primer,sanding,primer,sanding to get ready for paint.
I just picked up 20 sheets of this stuff in various thicknesses!
Best of all ..........the Extira was $118.00 for a 4x8 sheet for the last sign !

The down side is that it takes 2 men to load a sheet on the Bot, and I can load a sheet of 11/2 HDU by myself. It's heavy!

It does have a couple of seriorus drawbacks asside from it's weight. One must seal the edges because it's flakey. Once a corner is nicked it will get fuzzier and fuzzier. Also if you use it to make posts, time will point out every seem. It seems to mover quiet a bit over time.

There should be consideration taken when priming. A quick wash off with soap and water will eleminate the oil on the surface. If you don't do this, somewhere down the raod there might be problems.

I agree with Joe. I've used it, but I've had seen some behavior I don't like from it. Especially the thinner stuff. It'll bow like a banana when the sun hits one side of it, so keep that in mind when you're looking at applications that are post mounted. It's also not rot proof, it's rot resistant if I recall.

It also swells a lot when it gets wet, so never leave any exposed edges.

So, anybody have suggestions for substates that are affordable, machine well and hold up?

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Originally Posted by powerlsc

So, anybody have suggestions for substrates that are affordable, machine well and hold up?

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There's no such animal because there are so many different types of applications. It depends on the job at hand and what you're trying to accomplish. Aluminum, for instance, is widely used in the sign industry for many things, but you wouldn't choose that to cut 3D on, obviously.

There is no single particular substrate that is perfect for every job, is what I'm trying to say.

If you're a novice sign maker, the best thing to do is post questions in here concerning different projects you're considering or bidding on and you'll get suggestions and advice from knowledgeable and friendly folks.;)